Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” “Reflect your thoughts and watch others mirror them back to you.”

― Stephen Richards“You’re gonna have to serve somebody; well, it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody…”

― Bob Dylan

“They used to call the devil the father of lies. But for someone whose sin is meant to be pride, you’d think that lying would leave something of a sour taste.

So my theory is that when the devil wants to get something out of you, he doesn’t lie at all.

He tells you the exact, literal truth.

And he lets you find your own way to hell.”

― Mike Carey

“My belief is that, morally, God and Satan are vaguely on the same page.

According to the common understanding of Satan’s origins, ‘holiness’ is, metaphorically, frozen stiff in his veins: and at that a corrupted formula – i.e. legalism.

The vital difference is that God is willing to offer grace for our sins; he delights in grace.

God is the one and only holy and just punisher of sin, yes, but that is partly so because punishment for the sake of punishment is not something he loves.

Whereas Satan, as the accuser, and as it is written, actually seeks God’s permission to punish; he, being a seasoned legalist, delights in finding wrongs and will defy his own morality just to expose immorality.

This is why both the anti-religious soul and the violently religious soul are, whether consciously or unconsciously, and sadly enough, glorifying their biggest hater:

Satan is not only a lawless lover of punishing lawlessness, but also the sharpest theologian of us all.